question on mounting point options for fat32 partition

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wpshooter
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question on mounting point options for fat32 partition

Post by wpshooter »

If I want to setup a spare fat32 partition on my hard drive when installing Linux Mint
for the purpose of backing up / saving various data from my /home partition, what
are the meanings of the mounting point names (there are several choices) on the listing
of option/choices which Gparted gives for the fat32 partition, i.e. are the items on that
listing strictly just NAMES for the mounting point or do they have some functionality
as to how and when the fat32 partition would be mounted, or are they just folder/directory
names that can be assigned to the fat32 partition mounting point ?

Thanks.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Mint 21.3 Mate.

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rui no onna

Re: question on mounting point options for fat32 partition

Post by rui no onna »

They are names/labels. On Cinnamon, I do believe Mint uses these names to display the partitions on the Nemo (file manager) side bar.
wpshooter
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Re: question on mounting point options for fat32 partition

Post by wpshooter »

rui no onna wrote: Sat Aug 18, 2018 11:00 am They are names/labels. On Cinnamon, I do believe Mint uses these names to display the partitions on the Nemo (file manager) side bar.
Thanks for your reply.

Yes, upon further research that is what I found.

Now, say for instance if I setup this extra fat32 partition on my hard drive, which according to
what I can see just appears/displays basically as a folder in the filesystem under the mount point name,
what if I later had to reinstall Linux Mint and in the process formatted the / "root" of my old Linux Mint
install, would the new installation of Linux Mint that was connected to the old root be able to display the
contents that I might have placed in the fat32 partition ?

Thanks.
Mint 21.3 Mate.

SERVICE > competition
rui no onna

Re: question on mounting point options for fat32 partition

Post by rui no onna »

You'll need to mount the fat32 partition under the new install but yes, there should be no problems. I do something similar for files I want to share across my multiboot installs.
wpshooter
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Re: question on mounting point options for fat32 partition

Post by wpshooter »

rui no onna wrote: Sat Aug 18, 2018 12:43 pm You'll need to mount the fat32 partition under the new install but yes, there should be no problems. I do something similar for files I want to share across my multiboot installs.
Would that just be a matter of going into disk management and clicking on the mounting point name (and will the mounting point name automatically be available in disk management) or is there something else involved ?

Thanks.
Mint 21.3 Mate.

SERVICE > competition
rui no onna

Re: question on mounting point options for fat32 partition

Post by rui no onna »

wpshooter wrote: Sat Aug 18, 2018 1:10 pm Would that just be a matter of going into disk management and clicking on the mounting point name (and will the mounting point name automatically be available in disk management) or is there something else involved ?
Sorry, I've never used disk management. Probably yes? You can just do whatever you did to mount it on your original install.

I usually setup the mount when I install Linux. For obvious reasons, don't format the fat32 when adding the automount in order to keep data intact.

e.g. On Something else install option:

Code: Select all

Device      Type    Mount point     Size
------------------------------------------
/dev/sda1   btrfs   /               20 GiB
/dev/sda5   fat32   /media/shared    5 GiB
wpshooter
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Re: question on mounting point options for fat32 partition

Post by wpshooter »

rui no onna wrote: Sat Aug 18, 2018 3:13 pm
wpshooter wrote: Sat Aug 18, 2018 1:10 pm Would that just be a matter of going into disk management and clicking on the mounting point name (and will the mounting point name automatically be available in disk management) or is there something else involved ?
Sorry, I've never used disk management. Probably yes? You can just do whatever you did to mount it on your original install.

I usually setup the mount when I install Linux. For obvious reasons, don't format the fat32 when adding the automount in order to keep data intact.

e.g. On Something else install option:

Code: Select all

Device      Type    Mount point     Size
------------------------------------------
/dev/sda1   btrfs   /               20 GiB
/dev/sda5   fat32   /media/shared    5 GiB
Is that /media/shared mounting point something that you made up or is that from the mounting point listing ?

Thanks.
Mint 21.3 Mate.

SERVICE > competition
rui no onna

Re: question on mounting point options for fat32 partition

Post by rui no onna »

wpshooter wrote: Sat Aug 18, 2018 3:29 pm Is that /media/shared mounting point something that you made up or is that from the mounting point listing ?
Made up.

You can use whatever mount point you want provided it's not in use by the system. Might be best to keep the mount points inside either /media or /mnt for Timeshift purposes, though. Iirc, /media and /mnt are automatically excluded from Timeshift snapshots.
MintBean

Re: question on mounting point options for fat32 partition

Post by MintBean »

Just follow this tutorial.
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=255060

P.S. FAT32 is generally a poor choice. Unless you have a specific requirement for using FAT32, prefer:
EXT4 if you only need to access the partition in Linux.
NTFS for Linux and Windows access.
wpshooter
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Re: question on mounting point options for fat32 partition

Post by wpshooter »

MintBean wrote: Sat Aug 18, 2018 4:20 pm Just follow this tutorial.
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=255060

P.S. FAT32 is generally a poor choice. Unless you have a specific requirement for using FAT32, prefer:
EXT4 if you only need to access the partition in Linux.
NTFS for Linux and Windows access.
The instructions at that link seem to be referring to doing this on a second actual disk/hard drive.
That is not what I am wanting to do. The FAT32 partition that I am referring to is on the same
physical hard drive as my Linux Mint OS. Just using the excess hard drive space for the fat32 for backup of data,
so do those instructions still apply ?

Thanks.
Mint 21.3 Mate.

SERVICE > competition
MintBean

Re: question on mounting point options for fat32 partition

Post by MintBean »

Yeah still applies, as does advice above.
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